HUNTSVILLE, Alabama--Inside a nondescript building on Redstone Arsenal, a soldier puts on special fatigues with white marker buttons that align with his joints. He scrambles and lunges in training moves while a motion-capture camera records the action for animators.

In this Hollywood-style setup, the soldier adds authenticity to one of the most popular video game franchises in the world. Between 150 and 200 artists, sound engineers, programmers, gaming experts, subject matter experts and animators develop America's Army on the arsenal in Huntsville. The operation also creates an online comic book, and at one time included action figures modeled on real soldier heroes.

America's Army is produced by the Army Game Studio, part of the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (AMRDEC) Software Engineering Directorate (SED) at Redstone. The studio houses the development and management staff for America's Army products and military and government applications, all managed by Frank Blackwell. The Army Game Studio brings in roughly $100 million each year, Blackwell said, mostly for software development of Army outreach, education, simulation and training applications.

In 2002, America's Army established a beachhead on the gaming landscape and continues to be a major force. The franchise won awards for national marketing and government innovation as well as Billboard recognition. Its five Guinness World Records include Most Downloaded War Video Game.

AA launched the first game, called Operations, on July 4, 2002, and it has now passed 2.5 million downloads. Since then Special Forces (2003) and America's Army 3 (2009) joined the ranks. Over the years more than 14 million players have registered for accounts. Gamers from more than 60 countries have spent more than 200 million hours playing. By the time America's Army recruited its 8 millionth player in 2007, it was 15 times larger than the real American Army.

"We have a major studio here in Huntsville, Alabama," said Blackwell. "We use a few offsite programmers, but 99 or 98 percent is here."

In this case, he explains that "studio" is the term for a game development operation, but it also applies in the Hollywood sense because filming, animation and sound effects happen in the 520,966-square-foot SED complex.

In a competitive market, America's Army holds the attention of game players with top-notch graphics, reality-based storylines and lightning quick action.

The game offers civilians an inside perspective on Army life "from the barracks to the battlefields," according to the official description. Game developers went through obstacle courses, fired weapons, watched paratroopers and participated in training exercises for background.

Major Army commands and field units supply subject matter experts who approve everything from weapon function and sound to soldier movements.

"This is where the magic begins," Blackwell said with obvious pride as he explained the workings of the area. "It makes the animations real. Young people expect that now."

Proving Grounds, the newest America's Army game, hit the market in August 2013. It focuses on smaller, self-contained units with various objectives. Players follow rules of engagement in force-on-force operations. Battledrill Exercises pit six against six. Forward Line matches 12 versus 12. The experience highlights Army values, training and teamwork.

The goal is to showcase an entertaining experience in today's high-tech Army by reflecting technology, skills, training and career progress of a soldier using realistic weapons and technology.

Using Army training practices, players always perceive they are soldiers in the U.S. forces. A player's comrades appear to be in U.S. Army uniforms, and the opposing force appears to be in "enemy" uniforms.

Players have the ability to "self-heal" so they can stay in the action. Weapons and hardware are realistic, such as the M9 and Remington 870 MCS shotgun, M14EBR-RI sniper rifle, M4/M4A1 and the M249 light machine gun.

Research and development backing America's Army is truly the latest and greatest, such as emerging virtual reality technology called oculus rift. Users will strap on goggles (AA in Huntsville has a working model for development) or a headset and enter a moving animated world where a twist of the head downward becomes a dropoff, or a turn shows a soldier what's coming up behind. Facebook bought oculus rift, predicted to transform the gaming industry, for $2 billion. It's not expected to be commercially available until 2014 or early 2015.

America's Army is prototyping augmented reality applications for testing this summer. A player focuses an iPad/tablet camera on a real object familiar to the app, such as a model tank on a tabletop, and it transforms on the screen into a line-drawing version capable of "firing" weapons. Every forward march in technology benefits not only gamers but real Army soldiers who use AA technology in educational scenarios.

"We are using cutting-edge technology for training and real soldiers," said Blackwell.

The objective isn't always to shoot or blow up things. Gamers may have objectives like breaking through hostile territory to turn on a radio or retrieve a flag.

"We try not to make (shooting) the main focus," said Daniel Kolenich, executive producer. "You learn to stick together as a team.

"If you have to kill someone because they are threatening you, you do," he said.

From the screen to the page: a comic book spin-off

In a spin-off from the America's Army video game, readers of the comics -- or graphic novels -- explore deeper storylines.

In the game's fictional nation of Czervenia, for example, the president is attempting to wipe out the neighboring Republic of the Ostregals. Readers can click to learn more about an individual soldier's responsibilities and high-tech equipment he or she uses.

The America's Army comic series is produced by Michael Barnett and written by M. Zachary Sherman. In developing the comic book, or graphic novel, Barnett said "we showcase things about life of a soldier that we can't in game." That includes qualities of leadership, honor and self respect, said Barnett, who is based at the AA Huntsville studio. Artists work elsewhere in the Southeast. A few comics are printed, but most readers follow the stories online. Online readers get motion, audio and sound effects.

"We rival the quality that Marvel and other comic books have," said Frank Blackwell, manager of the Huntsville-based America's Army program.

The comics allow for stories on personnel like Army lawyers or support operations. Barnett and Sherman develop an idea and the story gets a look from real soldiers. Some lives have been saved because of the real medical training showcased in the comics, Blackwell said.

They can tell us what's right and wrong," Barnett said. "We have a large audience -- from 40 years old to teens. It's a great way to tell a story."

Because there are so many dramatic storylines in military life and conflicts, "I don't have to 'Hollywood' anything up," Barnett said.

"The readers may have expected a standard marketing piece about the Army, and are then really surprised that this is a top-tier comic, and one they can read for free," said Jeff Webber, vice president of digital publishing and business development at IDW in San Diego, which has digital distribution rights to the comics.

"It's a full adventure with fully realized characters and a complex plot. When comics hit their stride like this, the readers come back issue after issue to see what happens next," Webber said.